Milk Run
by Benji The Vampire Confuser
Summary: Malcom Reynolds fought the Empire as it worked to conquer the outer rim planets. Now he and his ragtag crew are thrust into the heart of the Rebellion when they take on some new passengers, an aging Jedi, his brash young apprentice, and two droids car
1. Fare's Fair

**Milk Run**

**By Benji: The Vampire Confuser**

_Based on characters and situations created by George Lucas, and Joss Whedon._

**Chapter 1**

Only someone who'd spent many years with a Wookie could have made out any expression on one's seemingly immobile face. Han Solo was just such a man.

"Don't look at me like that." He said defensively. "We're disreputable men pal."

"Growf, rrrrrrrrr, grooooo."

"Look this is gonna pay twice what the old man and that kid offered us. We pay Jabba back and have enough left over to take it easy for a while besides. We gotta think of ourselves here."

"Graaaaaaaah!"

"Now don't start on that honor stuff again!" Of all the possible partners out there he had to pick one with a moral code.

"Should I come back later?" Squeak asked.

Just then, Han saw a familiar face heading in his direction.

"Hold on buddy," Han said, smiling. "I think I see the solution." He turned to the diminutive broker. "Squeak, hold that thought for a few minutes huh?"

"Sure Han."

"Hey Mal!" Han called out to his old acquaintance. "C'mere for a minute, I got a fare for ya!"

* * *

"Look I'm tellin' ya Mal this thing's a milk run. Take this kid and his old man, two droids to Alderaan, and collect 17,000. What's not to like?"

"What's not to like is that you've never thrown work our way before. You're a smart man Han, and I know you need the money. So I can't help wonderin' why you'd take a job, then suddenly change your mind. This wouldn't have somethin' to do with a bulletin out for two stolen droids now would it?"

Han grimaced. Stolen Droids? Damn he should really pay more attention to the news.

"There a reward for them droids?" Jayne asked. Mal shot him a withering look.

"All right I'll level with you." Han sighed. "I took the job, then Squeak over there showed up with a job paying 34,000."

"34-" Mal choked. "What in gorram hell are you transportin'?"

"You know me better than that." Han said.

"Yeah I reckon I do." Mal frowned. "17 huh?"

"17."

"Sir," Zoe broke in, "Do we really need the possible massive trouble two stolen droids could cause?"

"We need the money." Mal reminded her quietly. "Kaylee says the engine needs parts we don't got, and can't afford to buy yet. 17,000 will get us the repairs we need plus somethin' extra besides."

"I hate droids." Jayne interjected. "Papa always said, never trust a machine that talks back."

"If the Imperials are looking for these droids," Zoe continued. "That could draw attention to certain members of our crew that could-"

"When have we ever _not_ been risking trouble with the Imps?" Mal wanted to know. "It's this or deal with Jabba, and he's got a worse rep than Niska. We get these folks to Alderaan and lay low for a while. Ain't you and Wash been wishin' for a little time on a nice planet?"

Zoe looked at him, her face impassive. Mal knew that look. It meant that she still didn't like it, or agree. But that she didn't have a better idea, and would go along with her captain.

Jayne spit into the sand. "Ruttin' droids just better keep out o' my way that's all."

* * *

"If the ship is as fast as he's boasting," Ben said. "We ought to do well." They spotted Chewie at the entrance to docking bay 94, and he approached them.

"Graaaah, rooowwrf, grrrrrr."

Ben looked concerned, worrying Luke. "What'd he say?"

"He said there has been a change in plans."

"Greeeerf, rowl, raaaaaaaah. Rrrrrrrrrrr, graaaah."

Ben finally nodded. "Very well. Best of luck to you both." He turned to his young companion and the droids. "Come along."

"What's going on Ben?" Luke demanded.

"Mr. Solo has had to cancel our arrangement, but he's recommended to us another ship. Not quite as fast, but Chewbacca assures me that the crew is more than capable of transporting us."

"I'm not sure I like this." Luke muttered. "We don't know anything about this other ship."

"Nor did we know anything about the Millennium Falcon." Obi Wan reminded him. "Much to Captain Solo's chagrin."

As they turned the corner, they did not see the squad of Storm Troopers heading for the docking bay they had just left.

"Here we are," Ben said. "Docking Bay 96."

"Do you hear blaster fire?" Luke asked worriedly, looking back in the direction they'd come.

"Don't worry so much." Ben said. They entered the bay and saw their transportation.

"What a piece of junk!" Luke exclaimed impulsively. The ship was an antique, no one made Firefly class transports anymore. This thing had to be older than he was!

"Hey!" an offended voice called out from behind them. "You insult Serenity you can just walk to Alderaan!"

Luke turned, a retort rising that died on his lips when he saw a pretty, angry young woman approaching from behind. "She'll make .4 past light speed Mr. Snotty Pants."

"Save your squabblin' for later kids." Said an older man, emerging from the ship. "Kaylee remember, sticks and stones."

The girl called Kaylee merely harrumphed and drove the tractor she was driving into the open hold, without a second look at Obi Wan and his companions.

The man approached them and held out a hand to Ben. "I'm Malcolm Reynolds." He introduced himself. "Captain of Serenity. That little ball of spitfire was Kaylee, best gorram mechanic this side of the rim."

"Ben Kenobi." Obi Wan said, shaking the man's hand. "This is Luke Skywalker, and our droids, C-3PO, and R2D2."

Malcolm shook Luke's hand and nodded at the droids. With a roar, the Falcon took off into the Atmosphere with blaster fire following in it's wake. Malcolm looked up and swore softly in another language.

"I knew I'd heard blaster fire." Luke muttered.

_What kinda trouble has that man gotten himself into this time?_ Malcolm wondered.

To Be Continued...


	2. Downtime and Training

**Chapter 2**

Serenity broke atmo only to find itself facing an Imperial blockade currently in hot pursuit of their "friend's" vessel.

"Oh my giddy aunt." Wash muttered as he watched the Falcon twist and weave around the heavy blaster fire. "What has that lunatic got himself into now?"

Beside him, Mal's jaw clenched. What _had_ Han gotten himself into? And more importantly, what had he gotten _them_ into? "Just get us clear enough to make the jump to light speed." He said. "They ain't interested in us, let's keep it that way."

"Yah!" Wash exclaimed quickly dodging a stray blast.

* * *

Luke stumbled as the ship lurched suddenly. Ben steadied him, but Threepio lost his footing and tumbled into a stack of crates.

"Oh!" the protocol droid exclaimed. "I'd forgotten how much I hate space travel!"

Luke watched as a burly, scruffy looking man paused at Threepio's side, looked at him, then spit on the decking before walking on. He didn't give Luke or Ben a second glance.

The woman who'd been introduced to them as Zoe came down the stairs from the upper decks. "This way to the mess." She said simply. "Captain wants to give you the two cred tour."

The ship lurched again.

"What's going on out there?" Luke demanded.

"Seems your previous transportation managed to get the attention of the Imps." She answered. "Some stray blaster fire's getting near enough to make Wash nervous."

"Why doesn't he just outrun 'em?" Luke asked. "I thought he said his ship was fast."

"He's workin' on it."

"Well you can forget our troubles with those Imperial slugs." Mal said as the group entered the mess hall. "Han's led 'em away from us so the trip should be smooth from here on out."

"I trust he'll be all right?" Ben asked.

"Han's a tough nut." Mal assured him. "He'll lose 'em."

"Nut is right." Jayne smirked.

"Time to Alderaan is about six hours." Mal said. "Make yourselves to home, 'cept that the bridge, engine room, shuttles and cargo hold are off limits. Zoe'll show you to the passenger area when we're done here. Feel free to come up here anytime, we'll be havin' lunch in a bit, mostly just proteins, but you're welcome to what we got. Infirmary's just off the passenger lounge if you get yourself hurt. Any questions?"

* * *

"Pardon me," Obi-Wan asked Zoe as she ushered them into the passenger lounge. "But might you have a practice droid of some type?"

Zoe frowned. They did have a droid that she, Mal, and Jayne used for target practice. It also fired low level laser blasts, but what could an old man like this want with one? "I'll go get it." She finally said. Mentally she shrugged. Maybe he was a semi-retired gunslinger or something.

While he waited for her return, Kenobi began to instruct Luke in the basics of the light saber.

"What the ruttin' hell is that?" Jayne asked, entering just as Luke ignited the blade.

"Light saber." A quiet voice said.

Kenobi's head snapped around. How had he not sensed it before? Not far away, peering cautiously around the corner, a young dark haired woman stood. Her eyes were fixated on the glowing beam of energy.

"That's right." The old Jedi said, smiling gently. "The weapon of a Jedi."

"Jedi?" Jayne scoffed. "Hell, ain't no such thing."

"Is so." Said Kaylee from her spot on the floor where she and Artoo were getting acquainted. "My daddy met one once."

Jayne sniffed derisively. At that moment, Zoe returned with the droid. It was the standard model. Spherical, with anti-grav generators and low powered blaster ports.

"This what you're looking for?" she asked, eying Luke's unpracticed stance warily.

"Yes, this will do nicely." Obi-Wan took the droid and switched it on. It hovered before Luke, zipping back and forth, and up and down. Artoo beeped, and Kaylee shushed him.

"I wanna see this." She said.

"Remember," Obi-Wan said, "A Jedi can feel the force flowing through him."

"You mean it controls your actions?" Luke asked. The droid fired a burst, just missing him. Though he managed to dodge the blast, he also failed to block it.

"Partially, but it also obeys your commands."

"What goes on here?" Mal asked quietly. He entered just in time to see Luke manage to block a shot from the droid.

Luke started to feel a little nervous from all the attention he was getting. As a result, the next shot got through his defenses, and stung his leg. He hissed in pain, as Jayne let out a laugh.

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at yer side kid." He said.

"You don't believe in the force do you." Luke said, glowering at Jayne.

"I wouldn't take it too personal." Mal said. "Ain't much Jayne can't shoot at that he does believe in."

"Ms. Kaylee might you have a spare rag I could use?" Kenobi asked.

"Uhm, sure." She said doubtfully. She pulled one from her pocket. "It's kinda dirty."

Taking the rag, he stepped up to Luke and tied it over his eyes. "I suggest you try it again Luke. This time, let go your conscious self, and act on instinct."

"But with the blindfold on I can't even see, how am I supposed to fight?" Luke complained.

"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them."

"Oh dear," Threepio worried, "Mistress Kaylee I do hope the chemicals on your cloth are not harmful to Master Luke's eyes."

"Me too." Kaylee giggled. She knew it would not harm him, but as a final payback for insulting Serenity she thought she'd let him sweat a bit.

Luke frowned. "What did you use this for?"

"Wiping my hands after workin' on the engine." She grinned. "Don't worry ya won't go blind or nothin'. Not permanently anyway."

"Ooo," Wash joked, adding his presence to the group. "Party games. What are we playing, Blind Man's Bluff?"

Luke took a deep breath and activated the blade. Wash blanched and stepped back. "I'm gonna stand way back here." He said. "Out of range."

Obi-Wan asked them to be quiet for a moment, and activated the droid again. It immediately fired a blast that caught the farm boy by surprise, stinging his arm.

"Stretch out with your feelings." His mentor advised.

Luke relaxed, and almost immediately he could picture the droid before him, and knew exactly where to move the blade. In quick succession, he blocked three shots. Exulting, he deactivated the blade and pulled off the blindfold, wiping the grease from his face.

"You see?" Kenobi said proudly. "You can do it."

"I call it luck." Mal said, though he didn't sound too much like he meant it.

"In my experience there is no such thing as luck."

"Cap," Kaylee spoke up. "Can I take Artoo on a tour of the ship? He says he's never been in a firefly before."

"I beg your pardon Miss," Threepio said, surprised. "But can you really understand what Artoo is saying?"

"Sure," she answered, "Can't you?"

"Well yes, but I'm programmed to understand over six million forms of communication."

"Well I may not know that much, but I worked with Astromechs since I was a kid. Not many droids I don't understand."

"That's our Kaylee." Jayne teased. "Got more mechanical boyfriends than real ones."

While Mal thought over Kaylee's request, Obi-Wan looked around for the girl. She'd disappeared, but he could still sense her. He let his senses spread through the ship, getting a sense of those within it. There were three that he hadn't met yet, and there was the girl. And her…brother. Perhaps he should start there.

* * *

"How does that feel?" Simon asked, raising Book's arm a little from his side.

"All right."

Simon raised his arm a bit more. "Now?"

"The same."

A little more and his patient winced. Simon gently probed the Shepherd's shoulder. "So why didn't you wait for Jayne to spot you?"

Book shrugged, and immediately regretted it when pain shot through his right arm. "I got cocky. It happens to the best of us. Even men of God."

"It's rare for men of God to admit fault." Obi-Wan said from the doorway. "Or men of the Force for that matter."

Shepherd Book looked at Obi-Wan in shock. "General Kenobi."

"Please Shepherd, I haven't gone by that rank for nearly 30 years."

Simon looked from one to the other, then slowly lowered Book's arm back to his side. "I don't believe we've been introduced." He said, while retrieving some spare rags and began making a sling. "Though it seems you two are already acquainted."

Book and Obi-Wan grinned. "Oh," Kenobi shrugged. "All old men know each other." With a shake of his head, he admonished the Shepherd. "Still getting yourself into impossible situations I see."

"Oh it's just a sprained shoulder." Simon assured him.

"Not quite what I meant, but that's neither here nor there." He watched as Simon put Book's arm in the sling.

"Try not to move it for a few days." He said. "And here's some ointment to put on it. If the pain increases, come see me immediately." He then turned to their guest. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I actually came to see you." Kenobi said quietly. "My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I wanted to talk to you about your sister." Even someone without the intuition of a Jedi would have been able to see how closed off the boy immediately became.

"What do you want with my sister?" he demanded.

"I want to help her." Came the answer. "She has great-"

"Great potential. Yes I know. The Imperial Academy said the same thing. Before they…"

Obi-Wan's blood ran cold. Much like it had watching the surveillance footage of Anakin's slaughtering of the Jedi Children. "What did the Empire do to her?"

When Simon did not immediately reply, Shepherd placed his good hand on his shoulder. "It's all right doctor. I know this man. You can trust him."

"I don't know why, exactly," Simon finally said, "But they cut open her brain, and experimented on her. What they did, made her unstable."

"Then perhaps I can help in ways I had not thought of before. The Force can work wonders in repairing psychological damage, if only one knows how."

"The Force?" Simon said skeptically.

"The Force is strong in your sister. Stronger than in most."

"Forgive me Mr. Kenobi, but I'm a doctor. I don't know if I believe in that sort of thing."

* * *

Luke had not eaten since dinner last night. He'd skipped breakfast that day to find Artoo, and it had been nearing dinner time when they'd boarded Serenity. So when Ben had gone off to find the strange girl who'd known what a light saber was, he decided to remedy that. But all thoughts of food left his mind when he entered the mess hall and saw her standing by the stove.

She was probably the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Certainly the cleanest. He found himself frozen in the doorway, his mouth hanging open. She turned and smiled kindly.

"Are you going to lurk in the doorway all evening or are you coming in?"

"Huh?" Luke shook himself, pulling himself together. He was a small-town boy, and he probably had seen more women in the past two days than he'd seen his entire life. He'd never make it in the big bad galaxy if he fell head over heels for every single one that came along. "Sorry." He said, blushing.

"It's okay." She smiled again. "I trained long and hard to get that reaction from men."

"What?"

"My name is Inara." She said, pouring the tea. "I'm a companion."

"Oh." Luke's immediate reaction was one of disapproval. Aunt Beru hadn't had a very high opinion of such a trade.

Inara picked up on the attitude and mentally shrugged. It was Tatooine, the boy likely wasn't incredibly well educated. "There's food in the cupboard if you're hungry." She said. "And don't worry, I won't try to corrupt you."

* * *

Obi-Wan's stomach lurched horribly, and he staggered. He felt hands steady him as Simon and Shepherd book moved him towards the examination table.

"Are you all right?" Simon demanded, grabbing a stethoscope from the counter. The symptoms looked familiar. "Do you have a history of heart problems?"

"No," Obi-Wan waved him off, taking a cleansing breath, "I felt a great disturbance in the force."

"What do you mean?" Book asked.

"It's as if millions of voices cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced." He answered, his eyes brimming. "I fear something terrible has happened."

* * *

Artoo whistled and beeped his approval at the state of the engine room. Any non-droid that could keep a ship like this going in the first place was top notch, but the engine itself was so efficiently stripped down. She'd cut out a lot of the superfluous parts altogether.

"Artoo is most impressed with…" Threepio saw Kaylee smirk at him. "Oh of course." He huffed. "You know what he's saying."

"You can translate anyway if you want to." She said, smiling. "You got more personality than most droids. I kinda like it when you talk."

"I," the protocol droid was taken aback, "You do?" He pretended not to notice, but he knew perfectly well that most humans found him insufferable.

"Sure. You got more class than most droids I met too."

If droids were capable of such a thing, Threepio would be blushing.

"Kaylee," Zoe said from the doorway, "Please tell me you're not flirting with a droid."

* * *

Mal intercepted Obi-Wan halfway to the mess, a no nonsense look on his face. "Why're you runnin' from the Imps?" he asked bluntly.

"I'm not sure it's best that you know that." Kenobi said carefully. "The less you're involved in our troubles the better."

"I ain't gonna argue that." Mal nodded. "But like it or not, and I don't, we're involved. You were supposed to take off with the Falcon, and the Imps sent three Star Destroyers after him. They must want you pretty bad."

"I really think it best if you not worry about it."

"Oh I'm worryin'." Capt. Reynolds shot back. "And before you get any funny ideas of tryin' any of your Jedi mind tricks on me, know that if you try it you'll get of my boat right now. The Imps want you. Or the kid, or the droids. I want to know how bad. 'Cause as you migtha heard by now, we got troubles with them of our own. I don't need another passenger addin' more."

Before Kenobi could answer, the ship shuddered violently. Grabbing the rail, Malcolm swore.

"Sir," Wash's voice came from the comm, "You'd better get up here."

Mal's astonishment over ruled his anger when Kenobi and Luke followed him onto the bridge. He'd deal with that later. Right now they had more important things to worry about.

"Wash you want to explain why we're being hit with rocks?"

"We came out in some kind of asteroid field." Wash said, steering around one of the flying pieces of debris. "But it ain't on any of the charts."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked. "Where Alderaan?"

"That's what he's tryin' to tell ya kid." Mal said softly, horrified. "It ain't there. It's been totally blown away."

To be continued…


	3. That's No Moon

**Chapter 3**

"What do you mean blown away?" Luke demanded.

"Destroyed," Obi-Wan said, "By the Empire."

"The whole fleet couldn't destroy an entire planet." Zoe said disbelievingly. "It'd take more ships with more firepower than-"

"Another ship coming in," Wash interrupted them. "Fast." His eyes widened. "It's an imperial ship."

"They followed us?" Luke guessed.

The tie fighter zipped past the cockpit window. "No," Wash said, "It's a short range fighter. Must've gotten lost from a convoy or something."

"Or the Empire's still around." Mal determined. "Wash where's it headin'?"

"For that small moon."

"Think we can get gone before it gets there?"

"That's no moon."

Everyone turned to look at Kenobi, whose face had gone pale. "It's a space station."

"Too big to be a space station." Said Wash, hoping he was right.

"Wash I want us away. Make it happen."

"No need to tell me twice." The pilot said quickly, then added. "Even though you did." He frowned as the ship refused to turn in the direction he wanted. He looked up at the less distant "moon" and gulped. "This could get interesting."

"Why are we still moving towards it?" Luke shouted.

"I just remembered that I told you two to stay off the bridge. I'm thinkin' it's getting mighty crowded in here."

"Tractor beam?" Zoe asked her husband, gripping his shoulder.

"Yeap."

Obi-Wan allowed only five seconds of despair and guilt to wrack him. "I have a suggestion."

Mal glared at the man who'd gotten them into this mess. "Good."

* * *

Lord Vader stared impassively at the ship resting in the docking bay. He did not look at the man giving the report, as he'd already guessed most of what the report would be.

"The ship matches the description of the vessel believed to be harboring River and Simon Tam. However according to the ship's log, the crew and their passengers abandoned ship just after leaving Tatooine. One of the shuttles is gone, and there are no life-signs aboard."

Vader waited a moment, letting the man sweat a bit. He was not known for his forgiveness when it came to bad news. As he'd suspected, River Tam was not aboard the ship. A day for double disappointments. Perhaps.

"Send a scanning crew aboard." He ordered. "I want every inch of this ship checked."

"Yes Lord Vader."

_I sense something._ Vader thought. _A presence I've not felt since…_

* * *

Simon stared out the window at the surface of the asteroid and swallowed. He turned to the others. Shepherd Book was sitting with his eyes shut, apparently praying, or meditating. Inara and Wash were both in the cockpit working together to keep the ship lost amongst the asteroids, but also trying not to be hit by one.

River sat huddled in the corner where she'd been ever since they'd boarded. She'd muttered something about the face of death, and had partially shut down. Going to her, he watched as she rocked back and forth. Though she flinched at first when he touched her shoulder, she relaxed into his embrace when she realized it was him.

"We're going to be all right." He said. "They'll never think to look for us in here."

"Voices," she whispered, "Silenced. Barely enough time to be scared."

* * *

The hold of Serenity sat silent and empty, except for a few crates of supplies. A preliminary search of the ship had revealed no one aboard. Now the Storm-Troopers had left, awaiting the scanning crew that would be able to do a better job. Therefore there was no one to see part of the wall open up, and six humans, and two droids extricate themselves from the hidden compartment.

"Lucky you had these compartments Mal." Luke said, a grudging respect in his voice.

"We use 'em for smugglin'." Mal answered, looking around carefully, his blaster drawn. "Never thought I'd be smugglin' myself in 'em."

"Yeah well fat lotta good it did us." Jayne said. "Even if we managed to get outta the hanger we'd never get past the tractor beam."

"Just leave that to me." Kenobi said confidently.

Jayne scowled at him. "Old fool I knew you were gonna say that."

"Who's the more foolish?" the Jedi retorted. "The fool or the fool who follows him?"

Jayne's brow furrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

"We can argue semantics later." Mal said. "You got any more in the way of suggestions Old Timer?"

Footsteps on the entrance ramp interrupted their conversation. Quickly ducking out of sight, they saw a scanning crew of two enter the ship. Mal whipped his head around and saw that the hidden compartment was hanging open, and he winced. A quick look at Zoe and Jayne and a jerk of his head conveyed his wishes. He and Zoe had worked together for so long that they hardly needed to speak when communicating. Jayne was just a seasoned ambusher who knew the best place to jump the Imps.

They made quick work of the Scanning crew, and hid their bodies behind some crates.

"Now what?" Jayne demanded.

Zoe was examining the uniforms of the two dead Imperials. "Maybe we need some disguises." She suggested.

* * *

"Hey down there!" a voice called from inside the ship. "Could you give us a hand with this?"

The two Storm Troopers standing guard shrugged and entered the hold to help. Two quick blaster shots brought them down.

"So, uhm," Kaylee said, looking at the two downed troopers, "Who wears what?"

"I ain't dressin' up in no tin can." Jayne said resolutely.

"I don't think either of these is your size anyway." Zoe pointed out.

Luke was already holding the helmet of one of the troopers. Mal looked at him, then at Kaylee.

"Kaylee you an' me are now scanning techs. Zoe, get up in one o' them armor suits. Luke, thanks for volunteerin'."

"What?" Luke asked, surprised. "I didn't-"

"Just do as he says Luke." Obi-Wan said. "I think I know what Captain Reynolds has in mind."

* * *

"TK-421 why aren't you at your post?" a voice emanated from the Trooper helmet Luke was holding. Luke froze, staring in horror at the helmet. "How do I respond?" he asked desperately. "How do I even work this thing?"

Zoe took pity on him. "Just step outside and make it look like your transmitter's not working."

Luke nodded, donned the helmet, and stepped out into the bay, sweating.

"TK-421 respond."

He looked up at the window overlooking the bay and saw what looked to be an officer staring intently at him. He knocked on the side of his helmet, then shrugged. The man nodded and turned away from the window. Quickly, the others exited, Mal and Kaylee carrying the scanning equipment, Zoe in her armor.

They met the officer halfway to the command post. He was about to speak when Jayne came up behind them and blasted him. Threepio and Artoo hurried after him as best they could.

Mal swore, and quickly ordered the rest to get into the command post and take it over, as quietly as possible.

"If you keep blasting everything in sight, and walkin' around out in the open like this," he said to Jayne. "It'll be a wonder the whole station don't know we're here."

"Bring 'em on." Jayne retorted as they entered the room just ahead, where Zoe had taken out the two techs with a minimum of fuss. "I prefer a strait fight to all this sneakin' around."

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi strode calmly past them into the command post. "Perhaps we can continue this discussion behind closed doors?" he called over his shoulder. Jayne and Mal, though loath to agree with anything the old Jedi said, followed.

"Artoo," Kaylee said. "Why don't you patch into the computer and find out how to shut down the tractor beam."

Artoo dutifully set about doing just that. A few beeps and whistles confirmed his success.

"He says-" Kaylee started.

"I beg your pardon Miss Kaylee," Threepio huffed. "Artoo is my counterpart. It is my duty to translate what he says."

"Sorry."

"Quite all right. Artoo says that the tractor beam is powered by the main generators, and linked to them in three locations. A power loss at any one of them will allow us to escape. He'll try to make the precise location appear on the monitor."

"I don't suppose it would be as easy as shuttin' it down from here." Mal guessed.

"I'm afraid not Captain Reynolds." Threepio replied apologetically. "Though it does appear that the controls for the hanger bay force fields are contained herein."

Artoo brought the locations of the tractor beam controls up, and Obi-Wan studied them. "I'll shut down the tractor beam." He said, heading for the door. Luke started to follow. "No Luke, you stay here."

"But I want to come with you." The farm boy protested.

"Your destiny lies down a different path than mine. Stay with the droids. They must reach the alliance, or all that has happened will be for naught." With that, he was gone.

"Yer old man's nuts kid." Jayne said.

"Have to agree there." Mal said. "Much as I hate to do it. Where'd you dig up that old fossil?"

"Ben is a great man." Luke challenged.

"Yeah." Mal said. "Great at gettin' us into trouble."

Artoo suddenly began to whistle loudly.

"Can't you shut him up?" Jayne said. "Turn down the volume on 'im or somethin'?"

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked.

"I'm not quite sure." Threepio said. "He keeps saying `I've found her`, and `she's here`."

"Found who?" Luke asked. "Who has he found?"

"Princess Leia." Kaylee answered.

"The Princess?" Luke leaped to the droids' sides. "She's here?"

"Princess?" Mal asked. "Someone want to explain some?"

"The droids belong to her." Luke said quickly. "She's a member of the rebel alliance. Threepio can he find out exactly where she is?"

"I believe so Master Luke." A low beep from Artoo caught his attention. "Oh dear."

"What?" Mal asked. "What Oh dear?"

"I'm afraid that she's scheduled to be…terminated."

To Be continued…


	4. The Rescue

**Chapter 4**

"No," Luke gasped. "We've gotta do something!"

"What are you talkin' about?" Jayne growled. "I ain't goin' gallivantin' around this death trap lookin' fer yer girlfriend."

"Why Jayne," Zoe said dryly, "You chivalric fool."

"What'd you just call me?"

"Minute ago you said you were up for a fight." Mal smirked.

"Walkin' into the detention level ain't exactly what I had in mind."

"We can't just let 'em kill 'er!" Kaylee implored.

"Better her than us." Mal said. "We're stayin' right here till that tractor beam's out o' commission and then we're out o' here."

Luke opened his mouth to argue, but Mal shot him a look. "No use arguin' what's already been decided kid."

Luke despaired, then decided to change tactics. "She's rich."

Mal frowned. "Rich."

"Uh huh, rich, powerful, if we were to rescue her, the reward would be-"

"What?" Mal challenged. He hated having his orders circumvented, but truth to tell he didn't like the idea of someone gettin' executed by the Imps either. And damn his conscience but he was already going through plans.

"Well," Luke foundered, "More wealth than you can imagine."

"I can imagine quite a bit." Jayne smirked. He had made no moves to rise from his seat.

"You'll get it." Luke promised.

"You speakin' fer royalty now?" Zoe asked. "Luke this is a big station. With guards all over the place, not to mention internal security systems."

"Her planet's just been blown up." Mal said. "You think she could still pay the fare?"

Luke's face screwed up. "The Alliance would pay. She's important to them, I'm sure of it."

"Mal," Jayne started, scowling.

"Cap'n?" Kaylee queried, a hopeful look on her face. She knew her captain well. She knew he wouldn't let them kill the princess.

"Sir," Zoe, inscrutable as always, "Do you have a plan or are you just gonna wing it?"

Mal looked down at the corpse of the officer Zoe had been thoughtful enough to drag into the room, and at the bodies of the techs. At the same time, Luke's eyes fell upon the wrist binders that came with the storm trooper uniform.

* * *

"This ain't gonna work." Jayne growled, shifting his arms uncomfortably in the wrist binders.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Luke asked.

"Ah did say so before." Came the answer. Jayne shot daggers with his look at Luke. The shorter of the storm troopers, then glowered at Mal, resplendent in his borrowed officer's uniform. At least he could take comfort in the fact that the captain looked even more uncomfortable than Jayne did.

Mal had very little liking for the Empire. None at all in fact, and even during his stint as a soldier for the Independents, he hadn't much cared for officers. But they had a job to do, and like it or not, this had been his plan. Well, half his plan. It was Luke's idea on how to get Jayne in the cell block.

With Luke and Zoe in the Storm Trooper armor, Mal in the Officer's uniform, and Jayne in the binders, they were off to effect a daring rescue, and hope to somehow make it off this junk heap alive. With Kaylee and the droids monitoring in the hanger bay terminal.

Zoe grinned under her helmet. Mal had been right about one thing. They'd had to trade the officer's jacket for one of the techs', because of the big blaster burn decorating the officer's. But Mal had assured them that all anyone would see was the fancy hat, and the officer's ribbons. So far, he'd yet to be proved wrong.

The lift doors slid open on the cell block, and they strode confidently out. Moderately confident.

"Where are you taking this…man?" the officer in charge sneered, adding sarcastic emphasis to the word man.

"Prisoner transfer from cellblock 42-F." Mal bullshitted.

"I wasn't notified," the officer said. "I'll have to clear it." He never reached the comm. Jayne grabbed the blaster rifle from Luke and shot the officer.

"Hey!" Luke objected. He was ignored as Jayne and Zoe made quick work of the guards and sensors.

Mal pulled a dead guard from the terminal. "Let's find out where this princess of yours is and get the gorram hell out of here." He pointed to Luke. "Cell 23-A. Go get her, we'll hold here."

Luke dashed to the cell, and left Mal to hold down the fort. A job which immediately proved complicated.

"Cell block 41-A, we read weapons fire up there what's going on?"

Mal rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. Flipping on the comm, he answered; "No need to worry, we had a weapons malfunction up here. But every thing's fine now."

"I'll send a tech up, you're lucky no one was hurt."

Jayne swore quietly.

"What was that?" the guy on the other end of the line said.

"Minor reactor leak." Mal said, still calm. "Better keep away, big leak, uh, very dangerous." Clearly, subterfuge was not Mal's forte. Maybe if they'd been playing Sabbac.

"Who is this? What's your operating number?"

Mal sighed, and blasted the console. "Boring conversation anyway. Luke! We're gonna have company!" He counted his blessings. Which at the moment was simply that there was only the one elevator it seemed. It meant that the Stormtroopers would only be able to come in that way, and only a very few at a time. Of course that also meant that their only escape route was effectively cut off.

The sound of the lift alerted them to the arrival of trouble. "Get to cover!" Mal ordered. Jayne took cover behind the console, while Zoe fell back to the corridor where there were alcoves to hide in. Mal stood front and center to draw attention.

Jayne swore. "Damn. Shoulda brought some grenades."

"Remember for next time." Mal smirked humorlessly. The door to the lift exploded outward, driving the captain and Jayne back. Soon enough, a pitched blaster fight was raging in the cramped quarters.

Luke meanwhile had located Leia, and they soon joined her would be rescuers. So far, she was not impressed. "Looks like you've managed to cut off our only escape route."

No one spared her a glance. Zoe however remarked "Maybe you'd like it better back in your cell."

Luke pulled Leia behind the cover of one of the struts in the wall, where Jayne was exchanging fire with the troopers. Frantically he pulled out his comm-link.

"Threepio! Kaylee! Is there any other way out of the detention block?"

* * *

Kaylee didn't like the tone of Luke's voice. He had sounded so sure of himself up till then. The near panic did not help her nerves. That and the blaster fire, and the alerts on the computer.

She and Artoo worked together to try to help their friends.

"This ain't lookin' good." she said unhappily.

"Sir I'm afraid there's bad news. All systems-"

"What was that? I didn't copy?" Luke interrupted.

"I said all systems have been alerted to your presence sir." Threepio continued, relaying what Ms. Frye and Artoo were telling him. "The main entrance seems to be the only way in or out. All other information on that level is restricted."

Suddenly, there came an insistent banging on the door to the control room.

"Open up in there!" someone demanded. "Open up in there!"

"Oh no." Threepio and Kaylee squeaked.

* * *

"There isn't any other way out." Luke informed his companions unhappily.

"We can't hold them off forever sir." Zoe said, seemingly calm. Only Mal and Jayne detected the stress in her voice.

"This is some rescue." Leia reprimanded them, frustrated. And things had suddenly seemed to be going so well. "You came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"

For some reason, Jayne thought she was talking to him. "I ain't the brains sweetheart. I mostly just kill people!"

Mal wasn't sure what amused him more. Jayne's sudden introspection and moment of honesty, or the shocked silence of their critic. He'd have smirked if he'd had the time.

_What kind of people have I just gotten myself mixed up with?_ The Princess thought.

Satisfied that he'd avoided all blame for the fiasco, Jayne went back to killing the Stormtroopers. It was actually kind of fun, if it wasn't for the imminent death thing.

Luke didn't seem to be hitting anything, so Leia grabbed his blaster from him and blasted out the cover for the garbage shoot. She supposed in all the hustle and bustle it was understandable that they'd overlooked it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jayne demanded.

"Someone has to save our skins!" she retorted. "Into the garbage shoot hotshot!" Proving that she at least was willing to get her hands dirty, she dove in first.

"Wonderful girl." Jayne growled. "Either I'm gonna kill'er or I'm beginnin' ta like 'er." He jumped in after her, not needing much prompting.

"Luke, you're next!" Mal ordered. Then after Luke, he sent Zoe in, bringing up the rear himself.

The garbage shoot deposited them right where you'd think. And it smelled about as good as everyone had expected.

"The garbage shoot." Mal grumbled. "Great idea. What a wonderful smell you've discovered." At least they had a brief respite. "Let's get out of here."

"No wait!" Luke shouted, a moment too late. Mal fired his blaster at the door, but the shot ricocheted off the walls endlessly, sending them ducking for cover. It finally struck harmlessly a piece of debris.

"Forget it!" Luke said. "I already tried it, it's magnetically sealed."

"Put that thing away before you get us all killed!" Leia added.

Mal hoped she'd yelled at Luke when he'd tried it. "So we're stuck. Seems to me our situation ain't improved much."

"It won't take them long to figure out what happened to us." Zoe agreed.

"Well it could be worse." Leia grumbled defensively.

Something in the water below them growled.

"It's worse." Mal said.

To Be Continued...


	5. Nothing But Trouble

**Chapter 5**

Jayne backed up against the door, eying the murky water uneasily. The others looked down as well, pointing their blasters vaguely downward.

"There's something alive in here." Luke said.

"It's your imagination." Mal told him reassuringly. But he didn't lower his guard either.

Suddenly Zoe jumped. "Something just moved past my leg."

They were all looking so intently around that they completely missed the single eye-stalk that poked up out of the water and looked around. Then, a brown tentacle reached up, seized Luke around the leg, and dragged him under the surface of the brackish water.

The others cried out in alarm and tried desperately to find him to help. Briefly, the former farm boy struggled to the surface, the tentacle now gripping his entire body and wrapped around his neck.

"Blast it!" he gasped. "My gun's jammed!"

"Where?"

"Anywhere!"

Mal, Zoe, and Jayne fired at the water, while Leia tried to help Luke to his feet. But whatever had him pulled him under again. For a moment the water churned, and then was still.

There was silence, then something somewhere clanged, and Luke burst from the water, coughing.

"What happened?" Mal demanded, pulling Luke to his feet.

"I don't know, it just let go of me and disappeared."

There was another clang and then the reason for the creature's retreat became evident.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Jayne growled.

Then the walls began to close in on them.

* * *

"Threepio! Threepio!"

The comm-link lay unattended on one of the consoles. Kaylee lay nearby, seemingly unconscious. She itched to answer Luke, but the door opened just then, and several Stormtroopers came in.

One crouched by her and shook her shoulder. She pretended to come too groggily.

"What happened?" the trooper asked. At that moment Threepio and Artoo were discovered in the closet.

"They're madmen! They're headed for the detention level!" Threepio said. "If you hurry you might catch them."

Most of the Troopers left, leaving one left to guard the room. Kaylee grinned at Threepio, proud of his ruse. Now they just had to get out of there. It sounded like Luke and the others were still in trouble. She hastily palmed the comm-link, switching it off before the trooper could hear anything.

"I think I'd better get to the med center." Kaylee said. "Those uh, rebels gave me quite a knock."

The trooper nodded. Then okayed Threepio to take Artoo to maintenance. Once they were out of sight of the control room, Kaylee grabbed the interpretor droid's arm and dragged him to an out of the way computer terminal.

* * *

"Threepio!" Luke shouted into the comm-link. "Threepio come in! Where could he be?" he wailed.

Zoe was trying to help Leia get to the top of the debris. Mal and Jayne were attempting to brace the walls with an old strut.

"One thing's for sure." Mal said. "We're all gonna be a lot thinner."

* * *

Kaylee switched on the comm-link. "Luke?"

"Kaylee? Where the hell-never mind! Just shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level! Do you hear me? Shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level!"

Artoo trilled a query.

"Just shut them all down!" Kaylee told him. She was gripping the comm-link with a white knuckled hand, her other hand covering her mouth. After a tense moment screams came from the link.

"Oh! Listen to them, they're dying Miss Frye!" Threepio despaired. "Curse my metal body I wasn't fast enough!"

"No," Kaylee sighed. She'd recognized Mal's and Jayne's relieved shouts. "They're okay."

* * *

"You did great!" Luke shouted. "We're okay, you did it! Hey open the pressure hatch on unit, where are we?"

Jayne was closest to the door and told Luke the number above it. Before long, they were out. Jayne of course was out first.

"Let's get out of these tin cans." Mal grumbled. "It don't suit us."

Once they were free of the Storm Trooper armor, Mal was starting to feel more like himself.

"Can we get out of here now?" Jayne growled. "This place gives me the-"

The thing in the garbage smasher roared, and Jayne started, then fired into the unit.

"No wait they'll hear!" Leia objected. "Look, I don't know who you people are, or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned and started down the corridor.

Therefore, she didn't see Jayne and Zoe look incredulous, or the extremely dangerous look on Mal's face. Not until he seized her arm and turned her around roughly.

"Now you listen here princess." he said, his voice low. "I don't take orders from no gorram aristocrat you understand? My ship, my crew, _my_ orders. You understand that or you stay here."

Without waiting for her answer, he motioned to Zoe and Jayne to follow him.

Leia stood stunned for a moment. "I'm not an aristocrat." she muttered.

Jayne leered at her. "I'll take some orders from ya." She shuddered, and stuck close by Luke.

Soon enough they reached a corridor overlooking the hanger bay. Mal was always happy to see his ship, but now it looked especially attractive. It was after all, their ticket off this gorram thing.

"There she is." he pointed. "We're close."

Luke turned on the com link again. "Threepio, Kaylee, you copy?"

"We're here Master Luke." Threepio answered.

"Are you safe?"

"For the moment. We're in the main hanger across from the ship."

"The ship's kinda surrounded." Kaylee broke in. "We can't get to 'er."

"We're right above you." Luke said. "Stand by."

Leia had been staring incredulously at the vessel. All the tales she'd read as a child about princesses, and Shining Space Ships and Jedi Knights had filled her head with certain pre-conceptions about how this sort of thing was supposed to work.

She'd thought she'd put such childish thoughts aside until today. This motley crew had thrown her, and now that ship? Never in all of her stories had a Firefly class freighter appeared. "You came in that thing?" she said, amazed. "You're braver than I thought."

Mal rolled his eyes at the backhanded compliment. "You're just about one of the most disagreeable folk I ever met." he muttered. There was no way he'd have let an insult to Serenity stand without _some_ retort.

"We should keep moving." Zoe said. "They'll be lookin' for us by now."

Mal nodded, and motioned for them to follow him. Just before the lift that would take them to the hanger, they ran into a patrol of Troopers.

"There they are!" one said. "Blast 'em!"

Mal was quicker on the trigger however, and dropped the lead Stormtrooper, sending the others running.

Mal took off after them, Jayne hot on his trail.

"Wait!" Leia tried to call them back.

"Sir?" Zoe said at the same time with the same intention. Sometimes her Captain acted on impulse and it didn't always end well.

"Get back to the ship!" Mal shouted.

Zoe sighed, and gently, but firmly directed Luke and Leia in the opposite direction.

"He certainly has courage." the princess remarked grudgingly.

"What good will it do us if he gets himself killed?" Luke said.

"Come on." Zoe ordered.

Mal wondered how long it would take before the Stormtroopers noticed that they actually outnumbered him, six to one. Hopefully after he managed to halt his forward momentum and turn back.

No such luck.

Jayne had fallen behind a little. It had dawned on him that the Stormtroopers outnumbered him and Mal quite a bit. Not that he was scared, but he didn't quite like those odds.

Mal came barreling back around the corner, dodging blaster fire. "Run!"

* * *

Zoe led the way, Leia behind her and Luke bringing up the rear. He was doing an admirable job of keeping their pursuers off their tail, especially considering he was about as green as you could get.

Zoe suddenly skidded to a halt, but nevertheless, she almost plummeted into a chasm that yawned before them. Leia grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the brink.

"Thanks." the first mate said simply. Rutting Imperial architecture. No warning signs or railings or anything.

"I think we took a wrong turn." Luke said. Behind them, they could hear the approaching footsteps of white ceramic armor. Zoe lay down a bit of cover fire, before Leia found the control that shut the door behind them.

"There's no lock!" she despaired.

Luke had one brief moment of panic and then shot the controls. "That ought to hold them for awhile."

"Find the control that extends the bridge." Zoe ordered.

"Uh, I think I just blasted it." the boy said sheepishly.

Zoe noted to herself, but did not comment, that Luke did not get a snarky remark from the princess.

"They're coming through!" was all she said. Up until then, Zoe thought that the young woman was holding up remarkably well. There was no evidence yet that the Imps were managing to open the door. But it probably wouldn't take long.

Luke suddenly had an idea. His eyes had lit on a junction of power conduits over head. Before he could say anything however, they found themselves under attack once more.

Another door, higher up in the shaft opened and Stormtroopers began to trickle through, firing at them.

Zoe and Luke returned fire. She marveled that the Troopers were such bad shots. Luke manged to hit one or two, but he was flustered, and his aim was off. Still it was serving to cover them a bit.

"Zoe," he said. "Your belt, there should be a grappling line in there!"

One handed, still shooting back at the Imps, Zoe checked. Sure enough. "Got it. Won't hold all three of us though."

"I'll take Leia. Can you cover us?"

"Go. Cover me when I swing over."

Luke handed Leia his gun. She had recovered her composure and blasted away with remarkable proficiency.

Luke managed to hook his line around the conduits and Leia put her arms around his neck. She kissed him once, on the cheek.

"For luck." she said. Then they swung.

The Stormtroopers didn't fire. They were incredulous at what had just happened. They had never expected anyone to try that.

Zoe took advantage of their surprise and quickly followed the pair on her own line. When she landed, she smirked at the Farmboy.

"You sure you've never done this before?"

* * *

Mal and Jayne ran pel mel through the corridors, Stormtroopers in hot pursuit. At least they were going in the right direction.

"Ah told you droids were nothin' but trouble!" the big gunman shouted.

"You were right!" Mal agreed. "Don't let it go to your head!"

They were headed for a junction.

"Close the blast doors, close the blast doors!" the squad leader ordered.

Ahead of them, heavy doors began to shut.

"Run faster!" Mal commanded. He and Jayne put on an extra burst of speed and got through the doors, just in time.

The Stormtroopers were stymied. "Open the blast doors, open the blast doors!"

Mal breathed a sigh of relief, till he stopped just outside the hanger, seeing the squad of Imps guarding the ship.

"Think they can tell each other apart?" Jayne asked.

Zoe arrived then with Luke and Leia soon after. Mal gave her a quizzical look. He'd have thought they would have gotten there first.

"We ran into some old friends." Zoe said simply.

"Is the ship alright?" Luke asked.

Mal smirked to think that that was the kind of question Kaylee would ask right away as well. "She seems okay, if we can just get to her."

Across the hanger, Kaylee looked on in disbelief as the guards suddenly left their posts. "Now's our chance!" she whispered to Threepio and Artoo. "C'mon!"

The droids hurried as best they could, meeting Mal and the others on the way.

* * *

Vader couldn't help but wonder if perhaps his old Master had planned it this way. For them to meet at this specific spot, at just the right moment to distract the guards. Well it didn't matter. What mattered here and now was finishing a fight they'd had years ago. A fight that still filled him with a rage that powered his assault.

Then Kenobi did something that would puzzle Vader for a long time to come. He stopped fighting, closed his eyes and raised his saber in something like a salute. For one brief moment the Sith Lord stared at him in disbelief, then he swung his own blade, and cut the old man in half.

Or, that's what he'd expected to have happen. It would have been somewhat poetic too as he'd heard that Kenobi had killed his predecessor that way. But instead, the old man vanished into thin air, leaving just the hilt of his lightsaber and cloak behind.

Vader vaguely heard someone cry out in anguish, but ignored it. He toed the cloak curiously. Obi Wan had said he would become more powerful. Was this what he'd meant? What had just happened?

* * *

Kaylee and Leia had both seemingly taken turns trying to get Luke to stop shooting at the Stormtroopers and Darth Vader and run already!

"Shoot the door Luke!" Mal shouted, his voice cutting through the din. Luke did so, but still held his ground, trying to get a shot through to Vader. But the door closed, and suddenly he heard Ben's voice, clear in his head.

"Run Luke, run!"

Mal probably set a new speed record getting from the hold to the bridge. He rather hated not having Wash there already. Had he been there, the engines would already have been humming even as the doors were closing.

"Let's pick up the others and get the hell out of here." he said, hitting the switches. As the ship lurched up from the deck and spun towards the exit he added. "I hope the old man got the tractor beam out of commission or this is going to be a really short trip.

To be continued...


	6. Here They Come

**Chapter 6**

Jayne wasn't particularly surprised at how hard the kid was taking his old man's death. He dimly remembered being inconsolable when his own father passed. Though in his own defense he had only been a child at the time.

He was however, a bit surprised at how hard Kaylee was taking it. She'd barely known the old geezer. He didn't remember one word that had passed between the two, but there she was, sitting with her arm around Luke's shoulders like it was her pop that'd kicked it too.

Maybe that was it. She must be sweet on the farm boy, so she was getting all sympathetic. He'd decided early on that she'd fallen so hard for the Doc because Wash was married, Mal reminded her of her daddy, and he himself had been too intimidating for her. It was just as well. She reminded him of his baby sister so even if she had looked at him that way, it would have felt almost too weird to pursue.

So there had come the Doc, all clean an' fancy talkin' and harmless. At least now she was fallin' for someone more along her type. He was green, sure, but Jayne saw potential in the kid. One day he just might be somethin'. If he didn't get himself killed first.

Jayne himself, was not sorry the old man was dead. It seemed just to him. Kenobi had gotten them into this mess, only right that he should pay the biggest price for getting them out. And besides it wasn't like he hadn't had a good run of it. He was old, he'd had his time. And really as deaths go, if you had to? That was wasn't the worst. It had obviously been quick, and he'd accomplished something going.

Jayne snickered to himself when Leia brought a blanket for Luke, and she and Kaylee gave each other a neutral, measuring look. Then he sobered. How come the kid got two girls maybe fightin' over him while Jayne just got shot at?

* * *

"You know they ain't just gonna let us go right Sir?" Zoe asked, as Mal headed for where they'd left the others.

"Well I'd hoped." he scowled. But there were the sentry ships. "We really need to get some weapons on this tub."

"We got a plan?" Zoe watched the ships approaching.

"I got one. Dunno if it's a good one." He hailed the shuttle, hiding just inside the asteroid field. "Wash?"

"Cap! You made it!"

"Don't break out the drinks yet Wash, we've still got some trouble. Tie fighters, we need to out fly 'em."

"...That'd be a lot easier with me there."

"Exactly. Work on that."

"Okay, get as close to the field as you dare, we'll come alongside."

* * *

Zoe came down into the lounge where Leia was now comforting Luke, while Kaylee made sure Artoo hadn't sustained any damage.

"We're not out of this yet." she told them. "We're comin' up on their sentry ships. We're gonna have to do some fancy flyin'. Might wanna hold onto something."

Only Kaylee was able to pick out the worry in her voice. "I'd better get to the engine room. Any extra juice should help."

Zoe nodded. "The rest of you, hang tight. We'll let you know when we're clear."

Leia moved to follow Zoe as she headed back to the bridge, but the tall woman stopped her. "Stay here. Might take some hits and we can't have people wandering around while she's shaking." The Princess was reluctant to stay and hide in the lounge, but saw the wisdom in Zoe's words. Besides, Luke needed her.

* * *

"Here they come." Mal muttered to himself. "Wash can you dock in a moving target?"

"Any move you can make I can match cap'n." Wash said. "Just please keep those fighters between you and us. If you can get enough distance so you can hold still for the actual docking, that'd be shiny."

Mal scowled. He doubted that would be possible. The ship shook as one of the fighters took a shot at them.

* * *

Inara clutched the armrests of the co-pilots seat with a white knuckle grip, as Wash stared intently at the instruments on the control panel. She knew he was a masterful pilot, but could even he pull this off?

"You've done this before right?" Shepherd book asked from the back.

Wash deftly maneuvered the shuttle alongside Serenity. He winced as he saw a fighter score a hit. So far they didn't seem to have noticed them. Mal was doing a remarkable job of keeping their attention.

"Nope." Wash said tensely. "No one has."

Inara closed her eyes, Simon swallowed hard, Book began to pray. And River grinned. "First time for everything."

Wash couldn't help a grin himself. What they were doing was theoretically possible as long as he kept his speed even with Serenity and-

The shuttle rocked as a blast hit a wing.

Wash swore and stabilized, but their perfect syncronicity with their target was thrown off, and now the TIE's were coming for them as well.

"Wash?!" Mal's voice from the comm shouted.

"We're shiny captain but it's getting a mite crowded here."

Simon had hardly seemed to notice River clutching his hand anymore. The whole time they'd been hiding in the asteroid field she'd not let go. He'd gotten used to it in that time, but now suddenly, her hand relaxed. He looked at her worriedly. Her face had gone blank, her eyes distant.

Out in space, one of the TIE Fighters suddenly jerked off course, as if something had struck it, causing it to veer into the path of it's wingman. The ships collided in a quickly extinguished ball of fire.

"Try it now." River said softly.

Everyone was staring at her, but Mal snapped Wash out of it at least. "I don't know what just happened but I think we've got time now."

The two ships kept moving in an escape course, but they no longer had to hurry as much, as the second patrol had not yet circled round to come at them yet. Wash still got to make history, by docking while moving.

There wasn't much time to celebrate though. No sooner were they docked, then Wash was dashing up to the bridge. They still had two ships to deal with, as was evidenced by the ship reeling from another blast from their pursuers.

Wash keyed the intercom to inform Kaylee, "I've lost lateral control."

"Don't sorry," Kaylee said. "She'll hold together." She bustled through the engine room, and murmured; "You hear me baby? Hold together."

"What's going on?" Leia demanded. She'd been unable to stand just waiting in the passenger area and come up to the bridge, Luke close behind.

Wash started at the unfamiliar voice and risked a glance behind. "Who are you?"

Mal scowled. "Out! It's too crowded in here."

Wash sometimes felt that way when it was just the captain on the bridge with him. Mal occasionally liked to back-seat fly.

Leia stalked off the bridge. Whether she ever would admit it or not, she was a bit spoiled. She'd gotten rather used to people treating her like a Princess, or a Senator. Even the Imperials had treated her a certain way in keeping with her station.

She was not used to being treated with such...scorn. It bothered her, the lack of respect that this Captain Reynolds seemed to have for her. Her thoughts were so troubled that she did not see the the man in her path until she'd almost run him down.

"Your Highness?" the man said, in a soft, surprised tone.

Her angry retort died in her throat. What had at first seemed like a good outlet for her frustration, had instead turned out to be...

"Senator Book?" He'd aged, and his hair was wildly different, but Leia would have recognized the man anywhere.

He smiled benignly. "It's Shepherd Book now actually." he told her. "I haven't been a Senator for quite some time now."

"Shepherd?" she almost laughed. "I'd heard you'd retired but..."

She was cut off as the ship lurched again.

"We're okay!" Wash called out from the bridge.

"Why don't we take this conversation to somewhere we can sit down." Book suggested. He led the way to the mess, then held out a chair for her. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "What happened to Alderaan?

Leia hesitated. At that moment, Artoo trundled in, whistling worriedly.

Shepherd Book saw her gaze fall on Artoo. "It has to do with our little friend here doesn't it. The Empire seems to be going to a lot of trouble to find him and his companion. Why's he so important?"

Leia sighed. "He's carrying the plans for that battle station. That's what destroyed Alderaan. The Empire has created a doomsday weapon. I only hope that when the plans are analyzed a weakness can be found. It's not over yet."

"It is for us." Mal said. He'd come in at the end of her speech. "Wash needs to know where we're goin'."

"Yavin 4." she told him. She started to say more, but he nodded abruptly.

"Good. Hope you or your friends can pay the fare."

"What?" she asked incredulously.

"Let's get one thing straight Princess, I ain't part of your revolution and we ain't looking for glory or adventure. We do a job, we get paid."

Leia's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Well you needn't worry about your reward." she sniffed. "If money's all that you love, then that's what you'll receive." She whirled around to find Luke, Jayne, and some others that she hadn't met yet standing there, watching with various expressions of interest, and alarm.

"Your friend is quite the mercenary." she snapped at Book. "I wonder if he cares about anything. Or anybody."

Suddenly her head snapped back, her cheek burning from a stinging blow. Even Mal was looking in shock.

Inara was just as surprised at everyone else at her behavior. The slap had been almost a reflex. "You don't know _anything_ about this man or his crew." she said calmly, and so quietly only Leia heard her. Then, with great dignity she left the room, headed for her shuttle.

"I did not see that comin'." Jayne said.

To be continued...


	7. Welcome to Yavin

**Chapter 7**

"Please hold still your Highness." Simon said.

Leia did so, soothed mostly by the young doctor's soft voice, and respectful tone. "I hardly think slap in the face is grounds for medical attention." she snarked.

Simon smirked slightly. "Maybe so, but an Imperial interrogation might be."

Leia took in his clothes and manner. "This ship is full of surprises." she muttered. As Simon examined her, she mused that he had a very professional, and yet calming bedside manner. "You don't look like you belong here. You're so..."

"Clean?"

"Well, yes. How did you wind up as a crew member on a disreputable freighter?"

"That's a very long story." Simon said. "Suffice to say that you're not the only one who's life has been uprooted by the Empire." She followed his gaze to the young woman looking curiously at her. "My sister and I are relatively new additions to the crew."

"You're far more polite than the rest of the crew as well." Leia said.

"The captain needs to warm up to people." Simon advised.

* * *

Luke glanced over at the infirmary, trying to decide whether or not to go check on Leia to make sure she was okay. He decided that would seem too eager. He wasn't sure what it was about her. Certainly she was beautiful, but it was more than that. From the first moment he'd seen her, he'd felt as if they had a connection.

"So what do you think of her?" he asked the person standing behind him. He didn't realize until he'd asked it that it was Jayne standing there.

Jayne spat contemptuously. "Tryin' not to kid." he said.

Luke felt nothing but relief at that. "Good."

Jayne smirked at him. "If you like girls to push you around, go for it." he said. "Can't say she ain't pretty."

Nearby, Kaylee was looking over the droids to make sure they didn't have any damage. She frowned slightly.

"Is anything wrong Miss Kaylee?" Threepio asked worriedly.

"Huh? Oh, no Threepio, don't worry about it."

* * *

Wash looked at the planet below them with deep satisfaction. "There it is." he said with a sigh of relief. "Yavin four." He glanced back, smiling at his captain. The smile died at the troubled look on Mal's face. "If I asked you why you weren't smiling, would I regret it?"

"It was too easy." Mal muttered. "We manage to get around or through all the security on that station and there's only four sentry ships? It doesn't add up."

"So the answer to my question would be yes."

Mal gritted his teeth. The sensible thing to do would be to drop the princess, Luke and the droids off, collect their fare and get out while the getting was good. He had a nasty feeling in his gut.

But he needed to have a word with their newest passenger first. There was a good chance they had just led the Empire right to these people. And Mal wouldn't feel right unless he knew that they understood the situation.

"They're tracking us." Leia said, without preamble the moment she saw Mal.

"Well that was easy." he muttered. "Most like. Best explanation I can think of for how easy that all was."

"You call that easy?" Luke said wonderingly.

"Given the size of the station and the importance of their prisoner, I'd say four sentry ships was a little light." Book agreed.

Jayne swore. "Knew it was too good to be true, us gettin' that lucky."

"So what do we do?" Luke asked. "Can we find the tracking device?"

"Not before we get to Yavin 4." Mal said. "It could be anywhere on board, or even on the hull."

"We could," Book said slowly. "Make for a different port. Lead the Empire away from the Rebels, that might give us more time to find the device."

"No," Leia said. Her voice did not hold it's customary air of command. "No the rebellion needs the information Artoo is carrying. We're what the Empire is looking for. Captain once you deliver the droids and I, you should get out while you can. We've caused you enough trouble already."

Mal looked at her with new, if grudging respect. Maybe she wasn't quite so simple as he'd thought. And she was definitely more diplomatic than he'd have given her credit for. "All right then." he nodded. "I just wanted to make sure you knew the situation. Didn't want to leave you and yours unprepared."

"I appreciate that Captain. And Captain, thank you for your help. You've done a great service to-"

"Yeah I feel all warm and fuzzy." Mal said, cutting her off. He didn't want her to get to speechifying. He had a suspicion it'd only lead to her asking them to stick around and help.

Leia bristled, but controlled her reaction. "There's a recognition code you have to transmit." she said.

"Figured there might be." he said. "Come on."

* * *

"Finally," Threepio said dramatically. Kaylee had noticed that Threepio said a lot of things dramatically. "A place of refuge!"

She briefly considered informing the droid that the Death Star was most likely on their trail, but decided not to burst his bubble. The poor translator had been through so much already.

As the ramp lowered, Mal and the rest of the crew stood with Leia and Luke and the droids.

"Looks like there's a reception committee." Zoe observed. She hoped there wouldn't be a lot of ceremony. She doubted she'd have any more patience for that than Mal would.

"I can have the money sent out to you." Leia said stiffly.

Mal nodded. "Just make it quick. I don't know how fast that Death Star of yours moves, but I want my ship and my crew out of harm's way before it gets here."

Luke happened to glance at River, and frowned. The girl was trembling, keeping far back from the door. "River? Are you okay?"

"There's darkness here." she whispered to him.

"Darkness," Luke frowned. "As in, The Force?"

River nodded. "Can't stay here."

How could she sense it and he could not? He must need to be trained more. But as Leia headed down the ramp towards those who had come to greet them, Luke followed behind. "Threepio, Artoo, let's go."

Kaylee impulsively caught Threepio in a hug, and patted Artoo fondly on the head. "Take care of yourselves you two." she said.

"Miss Kaylee if we do not see you again before you depart, may I say that it was an absolute delight to have met you." the golden droid said. Artoo beeped his agreement.

Mal, after a moments hesitation, finally went out as well. Zoe accompanied him, for moral support.

To Be Continued...


	8. Aimin' to Misbehave

**Chapter 8**

"Well, well, well. Malcom Reynolds." the man who came out to greet them drawled. He held himself with a military bearing, but his eyes betrayed a twinkle of amusement.

Mal blinked in amazement. "Willard." he greeted the man. "What's a proud upstanding Baron like yourself doing amidst the rabble?"

Commander Willard winced. "Being an outer world Baron was nice and all, but the Empire decided it had better uses for the area. Besides, once I got a taste for resisting authority I found I rather liked it." He turned to Leia.

"I'm glad you're safe Highness. Is General Kenobi with you? We got word you were supposed to contact him."

"General Kenobi was killed." Leia said regretfully. "He gave his life in a diversionary tactic so that the rest of us could escape the Death Star."

"That's sad news indeed." Commander Willard said. "When we heard about Alderaan, we'd feared you were lost as well."

"We haven't time for our sorrows Commander." Leia interrupted. "We're being tracked by the Empire. We were allowed to escape so that we could lead them here." She pointed to R2. "The plans for the station are stored in the memory of this droid. We'll have to move quickly, and use those plans to formulate an attack."

"We are not prepared for a pitched battle your Highness." Commander Willard disagreed. "Perhaps it would be best if we evacuated."

Mal nodded. _Smart man._

"There's no time." Leia said. "If we don't stop the Death Star now, other systems will suffer the same fate as Alderaan."

Commander Willard nodded. "You're right of course." He ordered one of his lieutenants to take Artoo. "Have the information sent to the briefing room immediately."

Threepio went with Artoo, loathe to be separated from him, while Leia went on to explain their escape as quickly as she could.

When she was done, Willard turned to Mal. "Well Reynolds, I don't suppose you've decided to take up arms against oppression again."

"Fraid not." Mal shook his head. "We took a job that went south, but we still need to get paid and get gone." His tone was not confrontational, but firm. "I need to get my people out of here. Recommend you do the same."

Leia fumed still, but said nothing. Willard sighed. "It's a good thing I know you Reynolds or I might think less of you for this. We don't have much in the way of cash I'm afraid. But we can give you something from our stores of precious metals."

Mal nodded. That would do nicely. It wasn't seventeen thousand, but it would work. "Whatever you can spare." he said reasonably.

* * *

As a young senator in the Republic, Book had been friendly with Bail and Padme, though they had disagreed on many topics. He had favored military solutions to many issues, not the least of which was the Separatist Movement. He had always been intrigued with the Jedi as well, and during the war he took any opportunity to speak with them. He'd found Obi Wan to be the most receptive to discussion.

Then when the war ended and he saw the Empire go to ever more horrific lengths to achieve their ends, he became disillusioned. Retiring, he took holy orders and devoted his life to easing the suffering around him in any way he could.

He believed that God spoke to everyone. Some, he spoke to through the force. Others, like Book who had no force sensitivity, he spoke to through faith. Looking around him now, he knew God was speaking once more. You didn't have to be force sensitive to sense the anxiety in the air.

* * *

Zoe had a passenger with her when she drove the mule up to the ship, loaded with their due. Commander Willard stepped down from his seat.

"I know how stubborn you are Reynolds." He said. "But you know how stubborn I can be too."

"I already fought my war." Mal cut him off before he could say anything further. "Now I got people to take care of. And hangin' around here waitin' to get blown up ain't my definition of takin' care o' folks."

Seeing it would be useless to press it further, Willard wished Mal and his crew good luck. Then Luke approached, now wearing a spiffy pilot's uniform. His expression darkened when he saw Zoe drive the crate laden tractor into the hold.

"So," he said, "You got your reward and now you're just going to leave?"

"This ain't a reward." Mal snapped. "This ia a fee for services rendered. At a significant discount I might add."

"Come on Mal," Luke pleaded, "Why don't you look around, how can you just turn your back on-"

"I look after me, and mine." Mal stepped close, his every cell sending out 'shut up' vibes. "That don't include you less I conjure it does."

Luke was not as perceptive as Commander Willard, and began to rally his thoughts for another try. But a firm, gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Don't Son." Book advised. "The captain's made up his mind. Trying to sway him now will only anger him, and I prefer we all part as friends. Don't you?"

Luke sighed, and turned away.

"Hey Luke!" Kaylee called from the bay entry. He turned, too far away to see how upset she was, but he was pretty sure he detected a catch in her voice. "May the force be with you." She said, before disappearing into the ship.

Mal hoped he wasn't in for too long a time of surly Kaylee.

Shepherd Book still hadn't moved from where he'd been standing. Great, was he about to get yet another lecture?

"Something you want to say Shepherd?" he said shortly.

"Just, goodbye Captain." Book said softly.

"Well make it quick, we don't got much time for-" Then what the man had said truly sank in. "You mean to stay."

Book nodded. "Even if they survive the coming fight, these people have a long, hard road ahead of them. And whether you're a believer or not, you can't deny that a little moral support can go a long way."

"Found it!" came a triumphant voice from above. Wash was perched on one of the engines, smiling happily. He held an imperial tracking device in one hand. Then he saw the solemn expressions on Book and Mal's faces. "What?"

* * *

There really wasn't time for lengthy goodbyes, and for once, Mal wished there was. He was the last to say it, shaking Book's hand after everyone else had gotten aboard. "Listen, Shepherd…I hope I'm wrong about your chances."

"Don't get sentimental on me Mal."

The two men smiled at each other. Mal's smile was grim, Book's was hopeful, then they parted. Book watched as Serenity took off, wondering if he would ever see any of them again. Hoping he'd done some good while he was there.

Then he watched as the pilots headed for their craft, exchanging a nod and a wave with Luke. When everyone had gone, there was nothing left for those at the base to do but wait. And that was going to be the worst part for them he supposed.

One or two technicians came up, recognizing him for what he was, and asked him if he could lead them in a prayer. He gladly acceded to their request, and soon enough a good sized crowd had gathered. Some prayed with him, some just seemed to take comfort in the camaraderie.

* * *

Malcom Reynolds hailed from the outer rim. It was a region of space that had been largely left to itself by the Republic due to it's remote location. The planets there policed themselves. They had liked it that way. They paid lip service to the Republic and it's laws, but mostly ignored it, and were content to be ignored in return.

Then when the Republic fell and became the Empire, things had changed. The Independent planets of the Outer Rim as they called themselves could see which way the wind was blowing, and organized quickly while the Imperial Forces were still consolidating power and making sure the inner core planets were toeing the line. By the time they got around to the rim, the Browncoats were ready for them.

Or so they had thought. They had been unprepared for not only the Empire's numbers, but their ruthless tactics. It was a bitter lesson learned, and one that Mal had taken to heart. You couldn't fight the Empire. But so far he was doing a good job of dancing around it.

"Stand-by alert. Death Star approaching. Estimated time to firing range, fifteen minutes."

Wash did not, in principal, disagree with his Captain's decision to get while the getting was good. On the whole he liked living. And while he was no coward, he wasn't hugely in favor of plunging into danger if it could be avoided. Particularly moon sized, planet blowing up, danger.

Still, Book was down on that planet. And Luke. He'd kinda liked the little guy, even though they hadn't really gotten a chance to know him. When they'd approached Yavin, Leia had given them the frequency the Rebels were using to communicate.

"All wings report in." One by one the nameless and voiceless pilots reported in. And then one not so voiceless or faceless.

"Red Five standing by."

Luke was back there, ready to face down the dragon. And Wash felt like a coward. Not that they could have done any good anyway. Serenity was not an armed freighter. Wash was a top notch pilot but fancy flying wouldn't take out the Death Star. The most they'd be able to do would be distract the tie fighters. Right?

And besides, it wasn't his call to make. And by now Wash could tell when to argue with Mal, and when not to.

"Look at the size of that thing!"

He was so engrossed in what was happening behind them and on the radio, that he never heard Mal come into the cockpit.

"Cut the chatter, Red Two. Accelerate to attack speed. This is it, boys!"

"Red Leader, this is Gold Leader."

"I copy, Gold Leader."

"We're starting for the target shaft now."

"Huh." Mal said softly. "Maybe they got a plan after all."

Wash jumped. "Bwah!"

Mal didn't react to his pilot's surprise. "Listenin' to this ain't gonna make it any easier."

Wash surely would have had a witty rejoinder to that, but they were both distracted by the familiar voice on the radio.

"This is Red Five; I'm going in!"

"Luke, pull up!"

"Are you all right?"

"I got a little cooked, but I'm okay."

"No." Wash said. "No it's not. I thought, maybe it would feel less like we were abandoning them. Him. It's actually making it worse though."

"Squad leaders, we've picked up a new group of signals. Enemy fighters coming your way."

"My scope's negative. I don't see anything." Luke said.

"No, don't rely just on your scope." Wash groaned.

"If it's just makin' you feel worse, turn off the radio." Mal insisted. Wash made no move to do so, and Mal didn't repeat himself. He was now listening as intently as Wash.

"Biggs! You've picked one up...watch it!"

"He's on me tight, I can't shake him...I can't shake him."

Luke was apparently not about to let this Biggs character down. "Hang on, Biggs, I'm coming in."

Wash and Mal's thoughts were about the same now. They were reminding themselves that they'd barely known Luke. Didn't even like the Princess. But Book was back there too. The difference was…Mal could do something about it.

"Watch your back Luke, watch your back! Fighter's above you, coming in!"

"I'm hit, but not bad." Luke said tensely.

"Red Six can you see Red Five?"

"There's a heavy fire zone on this side. Red Five, where are you?"

"I can't shake him!"

"I'm on him, Luke!" That was the guy called Wedge, Wash thought.

"Blast it! Wedge where are you?" Yep.

"Red Leader this is Gold Leader. We're starting our attack run."

Wait, hadn't they already started? Had it really only been a few moments? Wash felt like they had been listening to the growing battle for quite a while.

Mal had heard enough. "Turn it off." He ordered.

"Sir-"

"Turn it off." He said again. Reluctantly, Wash obeyed.

Mal turned on the intercom; "Everyone to the mess. Now."

* * *

By the looks on his crews' faces, they knew what he was going to say. He wasn't surprised. They were none of them stupid. Not even Jayne. For the most part, Mal made the decisions and brooked little to no argument. Though he did tolerate snarky comebacks.

Exceptions were rare. And this had to be the rarest exception ever. None of them had signed on for this. For what he was about to propose. Of them, only Zoe had real military experience. And she had learned the same bitter lesson as her Captain. Hell, this was practically the opposite of what Simon was after.

"You got on this boat for different reasons." He said, looking at them each in turn. "But you call come to the same place." He imagined what was going on out in space somewhere behind them. "Well now I'm askin' more of you, than I ever have before."

He had made his own decision. He wouldn't hold anyone else to it. He might not be the pilot that Wash was, but he could manage. If he had to, he'd load them all on a shuttle, send them on their merry, and go it alone.

"It didn't take any of you long to get in here. I take it y'all were listenin' in just like Wash was."

There was no answer, but their expressions spoke volumes. 'Cept River, who was inscrutable as always, and Jayne, who just looked annoyed.

_Gorramit._ Jayne thought._ Captain's gone as crazy as Doc's sis. Empire starts the war, and Mal volunteers. This is just another Serenity Valley, don't he see that?_

"This ain't our fight Mal." He said, interrupting. "I ain't no Browncoat, and I ain't no revolutionary neither. I signed on-"

"Do I interrupt your pretty speeches?" Mal snapped. He'd had a good head of steam going there.

"You just did." Jayne grumbled, but fell silent.

"Jayne's right." The Captain acknowledged. "None of you signed on to fight a war. But it's come clear to me that one or t'other, war's gonna find us. So I'm done runnin'. Seems I been runnin' for a long time and I ain't got anywhere. Now I aim to misbehave."

"We can get back there in less than a minute." Wash said. "Dunno what we could do when we get there."

"The rebels probably need all the medical personnel they can get." Simon said almost at the same time. River was shaking, but she laid her hand on her brother's shoulder to show her support.

Kaylee just beamed. She'd always known Mal would come around. He usually did.

"I believe Shepherd Book once said, if you can't do something smart, at least do something right." Inara smiled bravely.

"We got a plan Sir?" Zoe asked. He knew that stoic facial expression. That was her 'let's give 'em hell' expression. That was his favorite.

"Nope. We'll think of somethin'."

Then they were all looking at Jayne. He groaned. Just his luck he had to fall in with a bunch of ruttin' idealists. "Fine." He growled. "Let's go save the day."

**To be continued…**


	9. Side Pocket

**Chapter 9**

"Biggs, Wedge, let's close it up. We're going in. We're going in full throttle.

"Right with you, boss." Wedge said confidently.

"Luke, at that speed will you be able to pull out in time?"

"It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home."

Wash had turned back on the radio so as to follow the progress of the battle as they raced to the rescue. The way Mal saw it, they had two main things going for them. One of course, was the element of surprise. Which may or may not last. But the other thing they had, was River.

"Captain no, this is crazy!"

Mal gave Simon an 'are you kidding' look. "We passed crazy a few minutes ago Doc. Weren't you payin' attention? It's this or we let Jayne lean out the door with Vera again."

All in all Simon preferred that option. He was far less concerned about Jayne's safety than River's. Plus it ran less of a risk to Jayne's sanity. He was worried primarily that asking River to repeat what she had seemed to do back in the asteroid field would only make her condition worse.

They were in visual range now. River sat in the co-pilot's seat staring intently out the viewport. Wash had to resist the urge to glance over at her. The gunners on the Death Star didn't seem to have spotted them yet, but he knew it wouldn't be long before he had to do some fancy, twisty turny maneuvers to avoid their fire.

"There." River pointed. There was a trench running down the side of the station, where apparently the deciding battle was already taking place.

"I'm hit! I can't stay with you."

"Get clear, Wedge. You can't do any more good back there!"

The idea was to get in and out quickly enough that the White Belly's didn't even have time to fully acknowledge their presence. Mostly he just needed to get River close enough to see what was happening and intervene.

Which really made no sense to Wash. Like many people, he had heard of the Force, and Jedi, but it was all abstract to him. Something you read in some of the stranger holo-novels. Now suddenly he'd been thrust into an abstract world.

"Hurry, Luke, they're coming in much faster this time. I can't hold them!"

"Your back is turned." River said softly. "Of course you can't keep back the tide."

River would have been terrified, but she had somehow turned all this into something not quite real. Not concrete. There were billiard balls out there. Three of them.

"Side pocket." She muttered.

Wash spared her a quick, puzzled look. He adored her like a sister, but sometimes River just confused the hell out of him.

One of the pursuing Tie fighters spun, just as it fired at Bigg's ship, clipping it's fellow wingman, and spinning out of control.

"What?!" Biggs cried in surprise, unknowingly echoing Vader's own reaction.

Suddenly River's vision blacked out, to be replaced by a gleaming black, death mask.

_YOU!_

River screamed, recoiling in horror. She fell to the floor and scuttled into a corner, where she sat rocking.

Wash couldn't deal with that however, the Imps had spotted them. It was okay, Simon was on it.

"Machines." She whimpered. "They're all machines."

"Luke, you switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm all right."

Mal would worry about River, and Simon's recriminations later. There was still one fighter going after Luke.

"I've lost Artoo!"

"Kaylee!" Mal shouted into the intercom. "Get ready for hard burn!"

"What?"

"Just do it! Wash get us right over that bastard's head."

"I think we're approaching our quota for thrilling heroics Captain." Wash said, even as he obeyed. "Aren't we legends yet?"

"I'll let you know if and when we survive this. Everyone strap in!" Mal commanded.

* * *

Vader could not believe his luck. River Tam was within his grasp. Once he dispatched these rebels he could disable the ship she was on, and they could collect her at their leisure once the rebel base was destroyed. And it looked like their efforts on her behalf had borne wonderful fruit besides. She might be able to replace both the Emperor's Hands.

But first things first. The wing man was nothing. The leader was the true threat. If he somehow made the shot into the exhaust port all this would be for nothing. He didn't have time to destroy them both in order, so he would have to get higher, and over shoot-

River's ship wasn't trying to escape. And people had called Anakin reckless. The Serenity swooped just ahead and above him, then suddenly it's back nacelle burst into radiance, flooding his field of vision, and overloading his port solar fin.

Sparks flew across its surface, and the fighter spiraled out of the trench.

The Sith Lord had not sworn since he'd ceased to be Skywalker.

"GORRAMIT!"

* * *

"We're clear Luke!" Biggs shouted jubilantly. "Now let's blow this thing and go home!"

Wash felt as astounded as Biggs sounded. They had done it. It was all up to Luke now. If he missed the shot, all this would be for nothing.

River slowly calmed, hearing, just as Luke was, the soothing voice of Ben Kenobi in her head.

_Peace, little one. Peace. The force is with you, let it calm you._

Outside, Luke, in an incredible shot, even guided by the force, considering he was still a novice, hit the exhaust port precisely, sounding the death knell, for the Death Star.

River was startled out of her reverie by Wash leaping to his feet, cheering.

* * *

"Mal!" Luke shouted jubilantly when they exited their respective crafts. "I can't believe it! I really thought you'd left!"

"All part of our cunning plan." Mal said nonchalantly. "Old soldier's trick, you never put all your forces in the field right off."

"Luke!" a female voice cried, diverting Luke's attention.

"Kaylee!" Serenity's mechanic caught him in a tight hug.

There were more than enough congratulations, and heartfelt thank you's and joyous reunions to go around. Even Leia had a smile for them, and kissed River on the cheek. She remembered, even if she didn't understand, what River had done back when they first escaped. And given what Biggs had said, she'd deduced that River had done the same thing again.

Abruptly, Luke's face fell. "Oh no." he said softly, rushing back to his fighter. Artoo was being lifted out of his cradle and lowered, lifeless, to the hangar floor. There was a nasty looking hole in his dome.

"Oh no Artoo!" Threepio wailed. "Artoo speak to me!"

Kaylee was just as, if not more upset than the golden translator. She ran to Artoo's side, looking like she was about to cry. But when she got to him, her heart leaped. She was certain she could help.

"Let's get him to the repair bay right now." She said firmly, taking charge.

"Mistress Kaylee you must save him." Threepio pleaded. "If any of my circuits or gears will help I'll gladly donate them."

"Don't worry Threepio." She assured him. "I haven't lost a patient yet."

"Mal," Luke introduced, "This is Biggs Darklighter. Biggs, this is Captain Reynolds. I don't think I ever would have gotten off Tatooine if not for him. Much less escaped from the Death Star." Luke had only had time to tell his old friend the barest details of his adventures. He sensed a night of tale telling and carousing ahead.

Reynolds shook Darklighter's hand. "You two are acquainted I take it." He guessed.

"Heck Biggs taught me everything I know." Luke beamed.

"Oh, not everything." Biggs guessed. "Seems like you picked up a few tricks without me. How did you make that shot without a computer?"

* * *

Artoo came around with the Droid equivalent of a headache. He was getting tired of getting shot.

With an inquisitive whistle, he looked around. Well well, look who it was. He beeped happily to see Kaylee again, but his greeting cut off in surprise when she hugged him.

"R2-D2," Threepio huffed, "What do you mean worrying me like that? I don't know why I bother with you sometimes."

Artoo actually whistled apologetically. Then he asked Kaylee how bad the damage had been.

"Oh you were just singed a little." She smiled. It was her version of the doctor's reassuring 'it's just a scratch'. "Nothin' I couldn't handle"

* * *

Naturally, Jayne was the only one not happy with this. They stood together, Luke, Biggs, Wedge, Mal, and the crew, just waiting for their cue.

"I ain't no hero." He muttered. "Ruttin' ceremonies."

Mal just smirked. He had a feeling that once they put that medal around the mercenary's neck, maybe a few drinks into him and some accolades, and he'd be happy as a clam to be a hero for a while.

"Well Captain," Book said softly to his friend, "How's it feel to have a cause again?"

Mal gave him a sidelong look. "I always had a cause Shepherd. Always had somethin' to fight for. Just now, now I got some more to believe in. And I have to admit, if feels pretty ruttin' good."

Then with enormous fanfare, trumpets called them forward to get their ovation. Even Jayne decided to enjoy the moment.

What tomorrow would bring, well they'd wait to deal with that tomorrow.

**The End**


End file.
